


water balloons and friendship

by StayAliveFrens



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daycare, Friendship, Gen, Water Balloon Fights, brendon is kind of a bully, church group, gerard is great with kids, sort of, there's no religion though, tyler is an oversensitive smol bean, who knew hatred for water balloons could be an inspiration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 05:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7155884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StayAliveFrens/pseuds/StayAliveFrens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically a daycare AU, I guess. There's a church group for young families and while the parents talk they let the kids play. Gerard looks after the kids and Tyler is shy and hates water balloons and Brendon is mean and Josh is the new kid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	water balloons and friendship

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I wrote to pass the time. It's not really any good. I was inspired by 'oratorij', which is a sort of christian daycare programme I've been a part of every year since I was five (as a kid and then as an 'animator') and we always had water sports (not the kinky kind) and as a kid I hated water balloons and everything water or sports related. Also I was an oversensitive child. Basically I was Tyler in this fic.  
> Also Tyler and Josh are supposed to be eight here, Brendon is about ten probably and Gerard fourteen or fifteen.

Tyler never liked the Faith Between Us meetings very much, but ever since the Urie family joined in, things have gotten even worse. It wasn't the parents really, it was the boy, Brendon.

Faith Between Us was a church group for young Christian families that met once a month at the pastor's house. While the parents talked and whined about their problems, the kids had supervised free time on the lawn, 'supervised' meaning a bored teenager slept in the grass while they ran around and hid in the bushes. The bored teenager, his name was Gerard, was one of the only people Tyler actually liked. He was the older brother of one of the kids, Mikey. Tyler liked Gerard more than the other kids and Gerard seemed to be fond of him as well.

Tyler knew what was coming when his parents told him to put on his swiming shorts. The water balloons.

Oh, the horror. Tyler hated every aspect of water baloons. The impact, the wetness, the running, the screaming, the mud, the fact that they had to pick up the plastic remains once the meeting was done and that he was the only one doing it, because everybody was wet and drying off and he, who hasn't participated and tried to remain relatively dry had to start cleaning early. Yeah, Tyler really hated water baloons.

He sat down next to Gerard, while the other kids went crazy on a bucket of water baloons. Gerard kept some of the baloons for himself as a means of defence when the younger kids tried to sneak up on him to try to throw a baloon at him. Once the kids were close enough, he would stand up abruptly, taking hold of one of the baloons and preparing to launch it at them. The kids usually scattered then, screaming playfully and Gerard didn't even have to throw the balloon. In other words it meant that next to Gerard was probably the driest place on the lawn.

"Can I braid your hair?" Tyler asked Gerard quietly.

"Sure, Ty," replied Gerard with a smile. Tyler braided his hair a lot and he liked the soothing feeling of Tyler's fingers in his hair.

Tyler kneeled behind Gerard's back and started working on his hair. One of the counselors suddenly appeared around the corner, holding hands with a kid Tyler's never seen before.

"Hello, kids," the counselor called out and waited for the screaming and running to subside. "A new family joined us today. Say hello to Josh."

The kids made some uninterested noises and Mikey waved.

"Tell them something about yourself, Josh," the counselor urged then and Tyler rolled his eyes. Why do people keep asking kids to 'tell something about themselves'? They're just kids. What are they gonna say? I'm eight and I can ride a bike?

"Hi, I'm eight and I can ride a bike," Josh mumbled quietly. He looked so uncomfortable standing in front of ten or so other children. Tyler wanted to tell the counselor to leave already, but he didn't, 'cause then the attention would shift on him.

Once the counselor finally left with a 'Have fun kids!', Josh started towards Gerard and Tyler, but Brendon ran up to him and threw a balloon at Josh's feet. Josh stumbled and looked at Brendon in surprise.

"Come play with us," Brendon chimed. Josh stood there and kept glancing between Tyler and Brendon.

"You don't wanna sit with Tyler. He's lame," Brendon added when he saw Josh was indecisive. Gerard called Brendon warningly, but he didn't do anything. Tyler was glad. He didn't want drama and he didn't really care what Brendon thought about him. But somehow he cared what Josh thought. He seemed like a nice kid.

Josh looked at Tyler apologetically and ran after Brendon. Tyler didn't judge him. Everybody wanted to hang out with the cool kids.

Tyler was just finishing Gerard's braid, puting daisies in the loops, when he heard it. Tiny fast footsteps approaching him. Gerard noticed it too. Josh was running towards them, an awfully big water balloon in hand, no battle scream, just pure concentration. Gerard shot up, his hair gliding from Tyler's hands, daisies falling to the ground. He launched himself at Josh, but the boy was too quick. Josh threw the balloon at Tyler who was just then standing up, trying to help Gerard and splash! Balloon hit Tyler in the chest and exploded, sanding sharp droplets in his face, impact throwing him off balance.

Gerard got the hold of Josh's shoulders and was holding him tightly, but Josh didn't even fight it. The other kids gathered around, intrigued by the commotion. There were some gasps of surprise, but there was also laughter, mostly Brendon's, coming from the group.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. They made me do it," Josh started apologizing when he saw Tyler on the ground, his body wet, his arms bruised and his face making a grimace as he was trying to hold back tears long enough to get away from people before letting them out. Tyler scrambled to his feet and ran away. Gerard called after him, but Tyler just kept running.

"Mikey, go to the pastor and tell him what happened. Take Josh and Brendon with you. Make sure the pastor explains to them what they did wrong," Gerard ordered.

Mikey started towards the pastor's house, Josh and Brendon trailing behind him.

"I didn't do anything," Brendon protested, but he was too scared of Gerard to disobey him.

Gerard ran after Tyler, hoping the other kids will behave while he's gone. He found him. He could here quiet crying coming from a rotting treehouse in the back of the garden. The treehouse's been deserted ever since Gerard could remember and they've been advised not to climb up there, because it might collapse under the weight. Honestly, Tyler didn't weight much, but Gerard didn't want to risk anything.

"Ty, get down from there, it's not save," Gerard called and he could hear the sobbing stop.

"Are you alone?" Gerard heard from the treehouse, voice quiet and careful.

"Yeah," Gerard replied and soon he saw tiny legs emerge from the trapdoor. In two seconds, Tyler was on the ground. He was a very agile climber, Gerard noticed.

"I'm sorry I ran away," Tyler apologized and ran to hug Gerard.

"It's okay, Tyler. You were upset. And you had the right to be. The kids were mean to you," Gerard tried to comfort him.

"Why would he do that?" Tyler asked once he let go of Gerard.

"Why would who do what?" Gerard didn't understand the question. He knelt down to wipe the tears off of the younger boy's face.

"Why would Josh be mean. He's nice. Why would he hurt me?" Tyler explained. Gerard smiled at him.

"Sometimes people do things that they don't mean to do. It doesn't mean they're not nice. It just means that they make mistakes. It means they're human. And what do we do with people like that?" Gerard asked.

"We forgive them," Tyler answered, looking at the ground.

"So will you forgive Josh if he apologizes?" Gerard asked again.

Tyler nodded.

"And Brendon?"

Tyler shook his head and Gerard laughed.

"Yeah, you're right, he's a dick," Gerard agreed. "Whoops, you didn't hear me say that."

Tyler laughed and Gerard sighed internally in relief.

'Damn, I'm good with children,' he thought to himself.

Gerard took Tylers hands in his own and examined them. Tyler's elbows were grazed where he's hit the ground and his arms and back were dirty from grass and mud.

"Does it hurt?" Gerard asked and Tyler shook his head.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he said, stood up and started towards the pastor's house, leading Tyler by the hand.

They let Tyler sit on the porch after that, but Gerard had to return to the other kids. Parents were discussing something boring and Tyler didn't even listen to them, but it was okay, because he had piece and cookies the pastor gave him.

But then he heard them again. Quick tiny footsteps. Josh was running towards him, no water balloons this time.

"Are you okay?" he asked once he was in Tyler's earshot.

Tyler nodded.

"I'm sorry," Josh apologized again. He looked worried.

"It's fine, I forgive you," Tyler said and Josh smiled for the first time since coming here.

"Can I sit with you?" Josh asked and pointed to the place on the bench next to Tyler. Tyler nodded and Josh sat down cross-legged. He was wet, which really annoyed Tyler, but he didn't say anything, because Josh was sitting next to him and Tyler really wanted to be his friend.

"Want a cookie?" Tyler asked and passed the plate to Josh. Josh took a cookie, smiled at Tyler and thanked him. Tyler loved sharing candy with his friend.

They sat there for a while, listening to drowned out voices of their parents and munching on cookies.

"Let's play charades," Josh suggested. Tyler laughed. He wasn't good at charades, but it was a fun game. He nodded.

Josh jumped up: "I'll go first."

He started stomping on the ground and pounding his chest.

"A gorilla!" Tyler yelled out. Josh laughed but shook his head.

He stood next to Tyler than and started yelling incoherent strings of sounds at him. Tyler jumped in surprise and almost fell of the bench.

"This just looks more like a gorilla," Tyler commented.

Josh laughed again.

"Well, you're close. It was Brendon," he explained.

Tyler burst out laughing and Josh joined in, both boys now leaning against the wall and holding their tommies from laughter.

"Brendon was wrong," said Josh suddenly and Tyler looked at him. "You're not lame. You're the coolest person here."

Tyler smiled. Nobody's ever called him cool before.

"Thanks," Tyler said. He heard the finishing prayer inside. He always liked it, because it meant that he could soon go home, but this time, it filled him with sadness. He's not gonna see Josh until next month. He felt a tinge at his heart, like there was so much he had to tell Josh and there was so much they had to do together. But the  prayer came to an end and parents started flowing through the door and Gerard came back from the lawn, soaking wet from head to toes. He always let the kids pour the water from the buckets on him. It was a sort of reward for them.

Gerard smiled at Tyler when he saw him sitting with Josh. Tyler smiled back.

Gerard huddled the kids under in a room where they had their towels and Tyler took that as a cue to go pick up the balloon remains. Josh followed him.

"Where are you going?" Josh asked and Tyler explained.

"You didn't even use the balloons. Why do you pick up the trash?" Josh asked.

Tyler shrugged and Josh nodded.

"I'll help you," he said and started picking up the colorful plastic bits. They finished in five minutes and then Josh pulled Tyler in for a hug. Tyler froze. He didn't like being touched, but then he relaxed a bit.

"I thought this was gonna be stupid, but it was kinda cool," Josh commented and let go. Tyler nodded.

"It's usually stupid, but today was fun," he agreed.

They came back, their parents were waiting for them. Others have left already.

"Really? I go there too. She's a great hair-dresser, really gets what I want, you know?" Tyler's mom was saying to Josh's mom. She looked at her son when he ran up to her.

"Hey, honey, did you have fun today?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded. He always said that, but this was the first time he meant it. "I've made a friend."

**Author's Note:**

> This is honestly just a product of my procrastination, it's not meant to be any good, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.


End file.
